US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers‘ Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

„EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected,“ he said. „These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations.“

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies ought to be as extensive in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

„The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the exact same analysis is used to imported feedstocks,“ 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to .

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)